A Spirits Challenge
by That Twisted Fairytale
Summary: When Sokka is catured by Azula, Mai, and Ty Lee something happens that sends him to the spirit world. There he learns that if he doesn't complete a task for a spirit in a certain amount of time he'll die. sokkaxtylee
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I don't own Avatar ****

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A Spirit's Challenge

**Chapter 1**

Sokka sat very uncomfortably in a corner of the… well he wasn't entirely sure what it was except that it had been whatever had been chasing him, his sister, Aang, and Toph one night, a few weeks earlier. Another thing he wasn't sure about was how he had gotten there. One moment he had been fighting along side his friends and his sister, and now he was stuck in this corner, tied up, and being watched by this annoying but pretty Firenation girl. He glowered. Where were they going? And what would happen to him. 'Curiosity killed the cat.' He reminded himself stubbornly as he started thinking about asking 'Plus she's the enemy. The Firenation. Not to mention I'M BEING HELD HOSTAGE BY HER!' He fumed.

The girl seemed to notice his change in temper and stopped doing cartwheels. "Something wrong?" she asked cheerfully, after checking for Azula of course.

"What do you think?" He snapped. She stared "Of course something's wrong! I'm being held hostage by you, miss everything-in-this-whole-entire-world-is-boring, and that demon girl!"

To his surprise, she laughed "Well we have names you know! 'Miss everything-in-this-whole-entire-world-is-boring' is Mai, the 'demon girl' is Azula, and I'm Ty Lee. And what I meant is there anything I can do about whatever is wrong!"

"Where am I? Where are we going? What are you gonna do to me?" He replied flatly.

"Well… um let's see… would you accept relative location?" she said grinning innocently.

He stared at her "Yeah… sure…"

"Somewhere in the Earthkingdom!"

He glared at her "Right. That really helps."

"Well it's not like if I gave you a specific answer it'd help."

He rolled his eyes "Sure. What about the other two questions?"

"I don't know." Ty Lee shrugged "Azula hasn't told us. Well not me at least. She might have told Mai, but I'm not sure. Well technically we're going to capture the Avatar. But that depends on where he goes. So I really don't know. But then you might know so-"

He breathed a sigh of relief as she was interrupted and took it back when he saw why she had been interrupted. Azula had come in and didn't look very happy at Ty Lee. Ty Lee laughed nervously. He heard another set of footsteps and Mai also walked in. She cast a mildly interested look at Ty Lee and then to him. Ty Lee flushed and backed up next to her friends.

"You're wondering what we're going to do to you?" Azula started, but Sokka didn't get the chance to hear the rest. There was a sharp bump that shook the whole machine and everything went black. But, right before he lost consciousness he saw two people. One, was someone he never thought he'd see again, but the other he was certain he had never seen in his life.

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**A/N: Ahoy! I'm sorry if I'm being a little slow with updating but a lot of stuff is going on right now that's making it a little hard for me to find it in my heart to write. Please, no flames.But do review.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I don't own Avatar: the Last Airbender.

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Chapter 2

The Moon.

That was the first thing Sokka saw as his eyes opened. He sat up uneasily, his head spinning. As it cleared he could immediately tell that he was no longer 'somewhere in the Earthkingdom' as Ty Lee put it.

'Where is she anyways…' Sokka wondered briefly 'well she's not here…'

He looked around. It was hard to believe he had been here only a few months ago. The air was warm and humid near the pond. In the pond swam two koi fish. One was black with a white spot on it's head. And the other, the other was white with a black spot. He gazed at the white fish, his heart getting heavier each moment.

Sokka blinked. Something was wrong. His reflection was light blue and a little transparent. Exactly how Aang had described being in the spirit world. Before he had enough time for it to register, the white fish started to glow a warm golden white color. The fish floated into the air and turned into Yue. She looked exactly as she had when he had seen her first become the moon, and how he had seen her in the swamp.

"Sokka," She started "you have to leave."

'What? How was he supposed to leave if he was in the spirit world? Plus he didn't even know how he had gotten here!' He thought looking up at her face. She looked worried. 'Why is she so worried? Why is it so important that I leave?'

He gazed at her standing on the other side of the pool. A dark swirling shadow appeared behind her. The shadow began to take a form. It was someone in a black cloak. The hood of the cloak hid the being's features completely.

'Dark evil looking guy in cloak who walks out of shadows,' He thought sarcastically 'he seems like a nice guy. But why does something about him seem familiar…?'

There was silence for a moment until Sokka finally decided to break it with some questions.

"What am I doing here? What happened? Why is this happening to me? This is Avatar stuff. And I'm not the Avatar!" He snapped a little at the end.

The dark spirit was probably smirking under his hood because he sounded very smug when he spoke. "You need to do what I tell you if you don't want to die."

"What he means to say is," Yue said quickly but softly "right now, you're about to die-"

"And I can spare your life." The spirit gave a small, cold laugh as he said this "That is, if you do what I tell you to."

Sokka was silent, at a loss of what to say. 'What did he mean when he said I was about to die? And what could he want me to do? And why?'

"Now the question is…" The spirit said coldly "What kind of task could you do?"

Sokka looked up, and saw that Yue still looked worried as her soft gaze was pointed down at the lush green grass.

"Yue." He saw he snap her head up in the other spirit's direction when he spoke. "I believe you have a younger sister, am I correct?" There was a hint of amusement when he said this.

She gave a small nod. Sokka was surprised at this. In the short time that he had been at the North Pole, he and Yue had talked a lot. She had never mentioned a sister. He hadn't seen a sister either.

"What was her name again?"

"Yukiko." Yue said sadly.

"Yukiko… child of the snow. An appropriate name for the princess of the Northern Water Tribe." The spirit remarked.

Sokka was starting to dislike the spirit more and more each time he spoke.

"What happened to her now?"

Yue was silent. After a few minutes she murmured "She was taken by the Firenation."

"That's right…" The spirit turned to Sokka. "Your task is to find her, Yukiko." When he said the girl's name, Sokka felt very uneasy. It was almost as if it was amusing to the speaker. "You are to find her by the next new moon." Simultaneously, the three of them turned to gaze up at the full moon. "Tomorrow, you will have exactly two weeks to complete the task. If you don't complete by then, you will die. But if you do, I will spare your life."

And with that, a shadow consumed the spirit and he disappeared.

As soon as he had disappeared, Sokka spoke.

"Yue, what does he mean?"

"Exactly what he said." She replied sadly.

"So, if I don't find your sister then I'll really…"

She nodded "The place where they were headed is at the eye of the hound. Now you must go. This spirit is powerful and evil. He won't show any mercy if you don't complete his task! Now you must leave!"

"But who is he!" Sokka asked.

"Nobody is entirely sure… you'll have help. Good luck." She finished.

"Wait! Yue!" But it was too late.

Sokka's eyes opened to stare into a pair of curious brown gray eyes. A strand of brown hair fell in front of them.

"Oh yay! You're awake." The owner of the eyes said cheerfully.

"Have you ever heard of personal space?" Sokka snapped.

Ty Lee moved, no longer leaning over him. Sokka sat up, looking around. A few feet away from him were Mai and Azula. Sitting next to him was Ty Lee, and in the corner of the room was… his stuff! Including his knife, he realized as he noticed that his hands and feet were tied.

"What are you looking at?" Ty Lee's voice cut through his thoughts.

"Nothing." He replied quickly, scooting towards his stuff.

"Nuh uh! You were looking at you knife!" She told him, following him, crawling on her hands and knees.

"Then why did you ask?" He snapped, scooting faster.

"I dunno." She replied vaguely, crawling at his speed.

Sokka scooted faster "Why are you following me?"

Ty Lee crawled faster "'Cause you're gonna try to get away."

"How do you know?" He scooted faster.

"Why else would you be heading towards your knife?" She crawled faster.

"What do want!" He asked angrily as he reached the knife.

"To know why you want to leave so badly." She answered, stopping in front of him.

Her gray eyes bore into his blue ones stubbornly. She was clearly not going to give up. What harm would it do to tell her? After all even he didn't know what 'the eye of the hound' was! But how could he tell her, at the same time! She was the enemy. She was Firenation. But she seemed like someone who could be trusted. But there was no forgetting that she was holding him hostage.

Then, Sokka did something that surprised him. He told her what happened.

She stared at him.

"You're kidding right?" She asked incredulously.

"No. Now if you don't mind, I'll be leaving now." He smirked, holding up his unbound hands. He glanced down at his unbound feet smugly.

She stared at him for a moment silently, with her head cocked to the side.

"I believe you."

"That's nice." He said standing up. He noticed a hatch on the ceiling that looked like it would lead to outside. He walked over to it. He heard her stand up. It sounded as if she was in no hurry.

"I'll help you." She said seriously.

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**A/N: Whee! Happy 4th of July fellow Americans! If you're in Limoges, France and go to lycee Renoir, happy first day of summer. If you fit neither categories, happy random day of the year! Ok... well the whole 'eye of the hound' thing is a clue of where they have to start in order to find Yukiko. Basically there'll be a lot of that... unless I get lazy, but I probably won't! So r&r!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar.

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Chapter 3

Sokka stopped in his tracks and turned to face her. He gave her look that seemed to be asking her if she was insane.

"What!" He finally managed to ask.

"Yeah." Ty Lee said simply. She walked over to him nudging him back towards the exit. "Hurry, Mai and Azula could wake up anytime."

"Wait! I don't need your help! You're Firenation! I don't accept help from the Firenation!"

"The Firenation isn't offering you help. I am." Ty Lee smiled, now pushing him.

"How do I know you won't double cross me, even if I do let you help me?" He asked suspiciously.

"Well I suppose you don't. You'll just have to trust me, I guess." She shrugged "Plus I could have waken Azula or Mai when you cut the ropes. Or I could have just taken care of you myself."

Sokka frowned, knowing that this was true.

"You'll just get in the way!"

"Two heads are better than one, especially yours."

"See! We're already off to a bad start!"

"Already? So that means that you're letting me help?"

"What! No!"

Ty Lee ignored this as she opened the hatch; she climbed out and held out her hand to help Sokka out. He ignored her offer and climbed out himself.

"Even if you did come, what help could you possibly be?"

"Well I'm not sure, but I think I could help." Ty Lee said vaguely, scratching the back of her head.

Sokka slapped his forehead with the palm of his hand.

"Well the whole 'eye of the hound' thingy sounds like it's a place…" she reasoned. "But I've never heard of anything like that. So maybe she's trying to describe what it looks like."

"So do you know where it is, or not?" He snapped.

"Well we should cover some distance before they wake up. Then when we stop for a break we can take a look at a map. You have one right?"

Sokka nodded. What other choice did he have? He had no clue where it was, though he doubted that she did, she had a better chance of knowing than he did.

She smiled, satisfied and walked around to the back, where she led out one of the black and green lizards. She hopped onto the saddle, giving him a significant look patting the saddle behind her.

"Why can't you just take another for me?" Sokka asked, glaring at the girl.

"Because. If I only take one they'll think that you got away and I took one of the lizards to go and get you back." She answered.

His shoulders sagged, and he went over to the lizard and sat down on the saddle in defeat.

"You should probably hold on…"

He glared stubbornly and grabbed onto the edges of the saddle. She shrugged and soon the lizard had started running. Sokka gazed around him as the scenery changed as they covered distance. They were traveling fast enough, Sokka supposed. But it just didn't seem right to just sit around while your life was at stake. It was irritating to just wait to cover distance when he could be doing something about this. And it certainly didn't help that Ty Lee was talking constantly in hopes of starting a conversation, so he just ignored what she was saying.

Suddenly he felt himself tipping backwards. He turned around to see why and he let go of the saddle in surprise.

SPLASH!

As the lizard stepped onto the shore, Ty Lee turned around to check on Sokka. She looked at the water, wide-eyed, to see a soaking and angry Sokka stomping out of the water. She burst out laughing.

Sokka gave her a death glare "What's so funny?" He snapped.

"I tried to warn you!" Ty Lee snickered.

"No you didn't!"

"Yes I did!" she laughed, "I told you when we started to get near the water!"

"Well I didn't hear anything." He grumbled "And how do I know that you weren't trying to drown me or something?"

Ty Lee stopped laughing immediately and told him, a mix of hurt and anger in her voice "You know, not all people from the Firenation are blood thirsty!"

Sokka was silent. He wasn't sure what to say, but he knew that it was true. After all, there was master Jeong Jeong and Shyu. They had helped him, Katara, and Aang.

The rest of the journey, until they stopped, was spent in silence.

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**A/N: Aloha! Umm I had some ideas for this one so I started to work on this while I was working on the other fic's chappies. So I have a bunch of half finished chapters now... eheheheh... Anyways I hope you likey and r&r!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Avatar: the Last Airbender, nick does.

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**Chapter 4**

After a few hours of traveling, the two stopped at a small Earthkingdom village. Ty Lee stood up and did a few cartwheels to stretch out.

"I'm going to go buy something to eat…" Sokka told her, standing up and pointing to a small shop.

"Ok." Ty Lee answered, doing a flip.

When Sokka returned with the food, Ty Lee sat down cross-legged under a tree. He sat down and tossed her a piece of bread.

"So lemme see the map! I wanna find the uh… 'eye of the hound?'" She asked.

"Yeah…" Sokka grumbled handing her the map.

She nibbled on her bread a little bit while looking at the map. Watching her, Sokka had to admit that she was pretty.

She looked up to see him staring at her. "What? Is something wrong?" she asked.

"No!" Sokka said quickly, looking away, a blush creeping across his face.

She shrugged and went back to looking at the map.

Sokka frowned. Talking to the shopkeeper of where he had just bought the food from, were two Firenation soldiers.

"Oh Sokka! You're so lucky!" Ty Lee squealed.

Sokka ignored her and continued to watch them show the shopkeeper a sheet of paper.

"You have your own wanted poster! That's awesome!" Ty Lee said from behind him.

"Yeah it is…" Sokka said, not really having listened to what she had said.

His eyes widened as the shopkeeper pointed to him. The two soldiers started towards him.

He turned back to Ty Lee, "Umm do you know why they're coming towards me…?" he asked her a little nervously.

Ty Lee frowned "Maybe if you had listened to what I was saying you would know!" she said stubbornly.

"Ok… so what were you saying again…?" He asked.

"Guess." She said, sticking her tongue out.

"I'm serious Ty Lee!" Sokka hissed, aware of the soldiers coming nearer.

She sighed and pointed to a building nearby. Posted on the wall was a wanted poster of… him!

Sokka jumped up and grabbed Ty Lee's hand, pulling her up. "C'mon." He hissed.

He pulled her along towards the lizard, aware of the soldiers following them. He stopped momentarily to pull the poster off the wall. Ty Lee pulled him onto the lizard behind her, and they were off.

Finally, as they reached a small forest with a stream running through it, the two decided that there was enough distance between them and the soldiers. Sokka stood up, steaming.

Pacing back and forth he read his wanted poster aloud "Wanted by the Fire Nation for… DISTURBING THE PEACE!" he shouted "WHAT KIND OF DUMB CRIME IS THAT? And when have I ever disturbed the peace…?" Sokka grumbled.

Ty Lee also stood, though a lot less angrily, and started laughing "Well you just did!"

"I don't see what's so funny!" He snapped, turning to the laughing girl.

"It just is!" she laughed, "That you have a wanted poster!"

"It's not funny!" Sokka growled.

Ty Lee continued to laugh.

"Well… why don't _you _try finding a missing Water Tribe princess, the only clue you have of where she could possibly be in this whole entire world isn't even a clue, _and _you're wanted in a country of cold-blooded murderers!" Sokka yelled.

Ty Lee stopped laughing, "Well at least I'm here!" she smiled, "And I really wish you wouldn't say that…" she trailed off, frowning.

"Yeah," Sokka grumbled, "well it's not like you're much of a help."

"Well you know… before you dragged me off… and before I saw your wanted poster… I think I might have figured something out." Ty Lee grinned.

"What? The sky is blue? The grass is green?" Sokka asked sarcastically.

"Try 'where the princess is'" Ty Lee advised.

"Ok… where the pr- what?" He gaped at the smug acrobat.

"Yep."

"No way, you can't be serious!"

"I am."

"Great! So where is she?"

"Not telling you."

"WHAT?"

"I'm not telling you." Ty Lee said seriously "Not until you agree to stop insulting me through insulting the Fire Nation."

Sokka glared at her, "Fine." He said through clenched teeth.

"Riiiiiiiiiiight there." She said pointing to something on the map.

Far on the east side of the map, near one of the air temples, was a peninsula that had a two small mountains in the middle of it.

"That doesn't look like a dog." Sokka told her.

"Yes it does. You know 'eye of the hound'. Those mountains are the eye." Ty Lee told him.

"It still doesn't look that much like a dog." Sokka persisted.

Ty Lee rolled her eyes "Do you see anything else that looks like a dog?" she waited for an answer that never came "Well then lets try it!" She said cheerfully.

"Ok." Sokka sighed in defeat.

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**A/N: Well I've finally updated it! And just in time for the secret of the firenation! Yeah I know it doesn't look like a dog but bear with me, kay? And sorry for not updating in so long. The last few weeks have been my first few weeks of school, and it's kinda a big year for me... kinda I guess... not college or anything though. So I guess the better word is hard. Thanks for all the reviews and for waiting so long. NEXT CHAPPIE IS A SUPER COOL DREAM! r&r! **


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: I don't own Avatar, but I do own Yukiko, Mizukun, and Arai.

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Chapter 5

_Strands of midnight black hair dotted with gray ashes fell out of the usually neat topknot and into Arai's face. He pushed his hair out of his face impatiently, continuing his pursuit of the fugitive. He thrust his arms away from each other, the line of fire breaking for a split second as he ran through. Beneath his feet the earth trembled causing lanterns and torches to fall to the ground, the flames spreading to wood or to upturned oil barrels. _

_To his surprise the fugitive leapt down into a stairwell leading to the prison hold. Naturally, the young captain followed, racing down the burning hot metal stairs, three at a time, in order to keep up with the fugitive. He turned the corner at the bottom of the stairs, and stopped suddenly. _

_Standing, back towards him, was a small girl, though not the criminal he had been chasing. She turned towards him. In the golden light of flames around them he could see her dark blue eyes, and long curled brown hair. In her arms she clutched a rag doll._

Captain Arai sat up; cold beads of sweat rolling down his forehead. Breathing heavily he gazed around him. No flames, no trembling, no fugitives. He collapsed back down to lying position, his golden eyes staring up at the ceiling. They closed in a desperate attempt to fall asleep again.

But the sleep didn't seem to want to come again. There was a gnawing feeling in the back of his mind. Something wasn't right about the Water Tribe prisoner being held there. He assured himself that there was nothing to worry about. There was no way she could have escaped.

Once again he tried to fall asleep only to fail once again. He stood up and dressed. What was the harm in checking anyways, he reasoned as he walked silently outside in the peaceful night. As he approached the entry to the stairs he took a glance at the guard that was supposed to be watching out for the prisoners, but instead was sleeping.

'Note to self,' He thought bitterly, 'Make sure guards aren't sleeping during night shift.'

He glared at the guard and clapped his hands loudly in front of the guard's face. The guard woke up with a start, looking around stupidly, his hand searching for a spear, which had fallen on the ground. The guard stopped and realized who was standing in front of him.

"If I catch you sleeping on the job again, you're out of here." Arai growled.

The guard bowed his head wordlessly.

"Good." Arai gave the guard a final glare before continuing to his destination.

He made his way down the stairwell noiselessly, the dream repeating in his head like a broken record. He stopped just before reaching the same corner where he had seen her.

Standing there, he could here footsteps echoing on the metal floor. The footsteps came to an abrupt stop. Then a small voice spoke,

"Mizukun knows you're there Captain."

Arai walked around the corner, revealing himself to the eight year old. The Water Tribe princess watched him silently, standing near a metal bench that was put about a foot away from the door. Her curly, dark brown hair was pulled back with a ripped piece of blue cloth. In her arms, was an old rag doll, apparently known as 'Mizukun', who she believed spoke. The old doll wore a dark blue parka and had messy, dark brown, yarn hair and beady blue eyes.

"_You_ know I'm here." Arai corrected her coldly, "Not the rag doll."

She glared at the Fire Nation captain, "You shouldn't talk about Mizukun like that! He has feelings too!"

"Of course he does." Arai replied sarcastically, turning to leave.

"What do you plan on doing to me Captain?" She asked in a quieter tone, stopping him. "Am I just going to stay here?"

The captain didn't answer immediately, "They haven't decided yet." He replied eventually.

"Who are they?" Yukiko asked quietly.

"That's none of your business!" Arai snapped at the girl.

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Ty Lee stopped the lizard and jumped off. Sokka looked around, as if he had been half asleep.

"We're stopping for the night." Ty Lee explained to the Water Tribe boy.

"Right…" Sokka mumbled.

Sokka slumped down against a tree while Ty Lee tied the lizard to another tree. She sat down against a tree across from him. After a few minutes of silence, she finally asked,

"Sokka… why do you hate the Fire Nation so much?"

He glanced up at her.

"Well I mean I know that the Fire Nation started the war and all… but it seems like there's a little more to it than just that…"

Sokka didn't answer for a few minutes, as if he wasn't going to answer at all until,

"They killed my mother."

Ty Lee glanced up at him, her brown eyes wide. She bit her lip, gazing down at the ground guiltily.

A few minutes of silence passed before Ty Lee spoke once more.

"I'm sorry…" She apologized.

Sokka stared at her. Her brown eyes were downcast and she was twisting the pink cloth of her skirt awkwardly, searching for something more to say.

He too lowered his gaze, "It's ok…" He replied, also unsure of what to say.

"So… who's Yue?" Ty Lee asked.

"What is this? Ask Sokka awkward questions day?"

"Uh right sorry." Ty Lee said embarrassed.

Sokka sighed. Ty Lee had some sort of way of making him feel guilty.

"Yue is the Moon Spirit. When we were at the North Pole and the Water Tribe was attacked she died to save the Moon Spirit." Sokka told her, conveniently leaving out the romance he had had with her.

"I see." Ty Lee answered, as if she had inferred more than told.

"We'd better get some sleep." Sokka grumbled, lying down.

Ty Lee nodded and followed suit.

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Princess Yukiko listened to Captain Arai's angry footsteps echoing in the stairwell and finally dissipating. She held Mizukun out in front of her.

"I agree, Mizukun. He does have a temper." She smiled at the doll, which stared at her blankly, his mouth hanging open limply.

"Imagine how angry he'll be when he finds out that we found a way out." The eight year old giggled.

She sat Mizukun down on the bench and jumped over it. Firmly planting her hands on the seat, she leaned all her weight onto the bench, slowly pushing it, with a deafening scrape of metal, to the metal bars of the door. Finally a loud clang of metal against metal announced that the door and the bench had finally met.

Yukiko sighed and sat down on the bench exhaustedly next to Mizukun.

"It took a few weeks, but it worked!" She exclaimed, smiling.

After a few minutes of rest she stood up on the part of the bench nearest to the wall and stretched her hand out to the outside wall. Her hand felt its way along the cold metal as far it could reach. She stuck her head between the bars and saw that, even with the bench, she was still too short to reach a hook on wall that carried the keys to the cell locks. Her heart dropped, but regardless, she looked around the cell for something that could help and her eyes landed on the rag doll.

She picked up the doll, "Mizukun, can you help me get the keys?" After waiting for an answer for a few seconds she smiled once more and thanked him.

She stretched the doll up to hook, watching his progress though the bars. She nudged the large ring of keys up over the doll's head, and miraculously, the ring slipped over his head. She carefully pushed the doll and the keys over, freeing them from the hook and brought them into the cell.

"Thank you Mizukun!" She said happily, giving the doll a big a hug, the keys clutched safely in her hands.

She slipped one of the keys into the outside lock of the door and turned it waiting for a click. She repeated the process, a bit impatiently, until she found the right key.

Finally she heard the click of the lock, and the door swung open quietly. Clutching Mizukun against her she climbed the stairs as quietly as she could. Lingering at the top of the stairs, just out of eyeshot of the guard who, you guessed it, was sleeping.

She ran passed the guard, keeping to the shadows of the large military base. Leaning against the wall, the only thing keeping her from the outside world. She kept her gaze upon the two guards outside the gate.

She lifted her head a little bit, "Good idea Mizukun." She whispered.

Her hand searched the ground for a loose pebble. Finally she found a smooth black stone. She threw the stone as hard as she could at the closest guard. And fortunately, it met its target.

The snapped his head to his coworker and he shouted, "What was that for!?"

"What are you talking about!? I didn't do anything!"

The pebble's victim stomped over to guard number two, and a heated argument started, literally, as the two began threatening each other with firebending.

The young princess giggled as she snuck passed the two bickering guards.

Finally, once the yells of the guards silenced and once all she could see in the night of the base were the blurred lights, she climbed into a tree and leaned against the trunk.

She sighed, clutching Mizukun to her chest; "Captain Arai will probably come looking for us as soon as he finds out we're gone." She whispered, "We'll have to leave early tomorrow morning to get as far away from them as possible…" Her soft voice faded into the night as sleep took hold of her.

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**A/N: Well I finally managed to update. And I do have a good reason for not updating in a while. All this week I had exams, not to mention that my dad decided to get revenge on me for laughing at how badly Chicago was losing on monday, last week, not yesterday. But anyways, you have now met my favorite character in this fic. Can you guess who it is? Haha well hoping that you aren't all too angry at me, please r&r! **


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer: I don't own Avatar

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Chapter 6

"Could you tell us how to get here?" Sokka asked a merchant the following morning, pointing to the 'eye of the hound'.

After a long night of waking up to find themselves near a Fire Nation camp and having to find a place to hide, the two had decide that they needed to get Yukiko as soon as possible. So in the morning, after Sokka had put on the black hood he had used in Omashu and at the Fire Days festival, they had decide to ask for directions.

The merchant raised an eyebrow, "Why are you heading there?"

"Oh, we have family there!" Ty Lee lied.

"Well then be careful, there are tons of Fire Navy bases around those mountains." The merchant explained, his index finger circling the Twin Mountains on the eye, "It's about a day's ride from here, you'd probably get to the base of the mountain around dusk. There are a few small villages near there. You could probably find a place to stay for the night."

Ty Lee and Sokka exchanged looks; that had to be where Yukiko was.

"So… are you two going to buy anything?" The merchant grinned hopefully.

"No," Sokka started to say, but was interrupted by Ty Lee saying,

"Yes we are." She pointed to a pink notebook with white strings binding it together.

Sokka glanced at her and she added on an undertone, causing the merchant to give the two a questioning look, "So we can remember where we're supposed to go."

"Right." Sokka nodded, "But we're getting the blue one." He pointed to a blue notebook with black binding.

"Pink." She pointed to the pink one.

"Blue."

"Pink."

"Blue!"

"Pink!"

"BLUE!"

"PINK!"

"BLUE!"

"PINK!" She jabbed his arm, causing it to go limp.

"Pink it is." Sokka sighed in defeat.

As Sokka paid for the notebook, the merchant chuckled, "Your girlfriend's got you whipped."

Ty Lee giggled.

"She's not my girlfriend." Sokka grumbled as they left.

-

-

The young Water Tribe princess leaned against the wall of a shop. After a few hours of walking she had finally reached a village. She clutched Mizukun to her chest, catching her breath. A glint of gold caught her eyes.

"What should we use it for Mizukun?" She murmured, bending down to pick up a few gold pieces.

She held the doll out in front of her, arm's length away.

"Yes… I probably should buy some Earth Kingdom clothes so I won't stick out…" She smiled at the doll, "Thank you for the idea Mizukun!" She hugged him.

She stood up and walked around the corner, looking around, her blue eyes widened in a child's innocent way. A small smile formed on her lips as she saw a clothing store. She pushed open the wooden door and a tinkling of a bell chimed from the inside. She quietly stepped inside, looking around curiously.

A woman, around her mid thirties, with long auburn hair in a long braid walked into the main room of the shop. She smiled as she saw the young girl.

"Can I help you?" She asked, kneeling down to Yukiko's level once she stood in front of her.

Yukiko nodded.

"Would you like a new dress?" The woman asked, observing her tattered and dirty blue clothing.

"Yes please." She replied quietly.

Soon after she had chosen a dark green dress with a grass green sash wrapped around her waist.

As she gave the woman the gold pieces, the woman held out a ribbon the same grass green color as the sash and asked, "Do want this ribbon to tie your hair back instead of your blue one?"

"Thank you." Yukiko replied taking the gift.

She left the shop and stood on the cobbled sidewalk, tying the ribbon in the blue one's place. She looked across the street and saw a pink girl and a blue boy. The girl turned around and saw her and waved to her cheerfully. Yukiko waved back, a small smile on her lips.

She giggled as Mr. Blue poked Miss Pink irritated. Miss Pink shrugged and said something that Yukiko couldn't hear. Mr. Blue responded by shaking his head, mumbling something and leading Miss Pink to a giant lizard and they left.

She watched Miss Pink and Mr. Blue leave the way she had come into the village. She smiled to herself and looked down to Mizukun.

"Time to go, Mizukun." She whispered.

-

-

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU CAN'T FIND HER?!" Captain Arai roared.

"Well um we mean that she isn't, well uh… there?" A terrified guard stuttered.

"WELL WHAT ARE YOU STANDING AROUND FOR!? LOOK FOR HER!"

Captain Arai massaged his temples, trying with no avail to calm his temper. If they didn't find her, he'd have to go after her himself.

-

-

Night was falling quickly as Ty Lee and Sokka approached the Fire Nation bases.

"How do we know which one it is?" Ty Lee whispered.

Sokka kept his gaze on the nearest base, "I dunno! All I know is the 'eye of the hound' thing and that we're looking for a Water Tribe princess!"

"Shh, listen!" Ty Lee shushed him.

Two guards were standing out side the base grumbling angrily about something.

"All this just to find some little girl." Guard number one complained.

"Yeah, I don't even know why he cares so much about keeping that little girl around! She's always talking to that creepy doll of hers." His co-worker replied.

"That doll is pretty creepy… I swear I saw it watchin' me once when I was guarding her!" The first guard said nervously.

"Dude. It's a _doll_." The second guard gave the first one a strange look, "An inanimate object. It's not watching you."

"But still, why's he even care about her? She's just a Water Tribe princess!"

"Are all the lights on in that thick head of yours? Do realize what you said?"

"Why does he even care?" Guard number one asked confusedly.

"SHE'S A PRINCESS! THAT MEANS THE WATER TRIBE CARES ABOUT HER! WHICH ALSO MEANS THAT THE FIRENATION HAS LEVERAGE ON THE WATER TRIBE!" The second guard bellowed impatiently.

"Right…" The first guard mumbled, embarrassed.

Ty Lee grinned, turning her index finger in a small circle next to her head, nodding to the guards. Sokka grinned back, despite himself, and nodded in agreement. She winked at him, tossing a pebble rhythmically in her hand and nodding to the guards again. He nodded back once more. She caught the pebble and in one swift movement, threw it as hard as she could to the guard with a strange fear of dolls. Of course, it hit its target.

"OWW!" The first guard howled, clutching his helmet-covered head.

"Shut up!" The other guard hissed, clamping a hand over the other's mouth, "Do you wanna get us in trouble with the captain? I hope you don't 'cause he's in a very bad mood if you hadn't noticed!"

"You started it!" The victim whined as Ty Lee and Sokka began to sneak passed them.

"What the- How did I start it!?"

"You threw that pebble at me! Just because I know that that doll is evil and you don't, doesn't mean you can throw stuff at me!"

"Oh please. I didn't throw that pebble at you! But if I didn't… then who di- HEY YOU! WHERE DO YOU THINK YOU'RE GOING!?" He shouted, pointing to Sokka and Ty Lee.

Sokka gulped, "Well you see…"

"We heard that you had a dilemma." Ty Lee finished matter-of-factly.

The guards exchanged looks.

"Yeah. So what's this about evil dolls?" Sokka asked them.

"See! _They _believe me!" The first one told the second one.

"So what're your names anyways?" Ty Lee asked.

The guards exchanged looks.

"Tell us what you know about evil dolls first!" The gullible one demanded.

"Fair deal." Sokka agreed, "Well…" He glanced at the first guard questioningly.

"Ichiro."

"And…"

"And…" Ichiro agreed, turning to the second guard.

"Jiro." He sighed.

"Evil dolls are very rare. They're only found in the Si Wong Desert." Sokka told them secretively.

"They cause havoc and destruction to those who travel into their territory. If it weren't for them, then it would be very easy to travel in the desert. Because the Si Wong Desert isn't really a desert… it's a lake. It's a giant lake that is really called the Si Wong Lake." Ty Lee added on.

"Wow…" Ichiro said in awe, "That information could change the world…"

"Indeed it could." Ty Lee said seriously.

"Oh please! You don't really believe that do you?" Jiro snapped.

"Yes, actually I do."

"Ok, so answer this for me. HOW DID SHE GET THE DOLL IF SHE'S FROM THE WATER TRIBE! LAST TIME I CHECKED, THE WATER TRIBE DIDN'T LIVE IN THE MIDDLE OF DESERT!"

"It isn't a desert! It's a lake! So maybe she comes from a lake tribe."

Ty Lee nudged Sokka to start towards the inside of the base. He complied, and by the time they were a good distance away from the guards, they still hadn't noticed that they were alone.

Ty Lee burst out in a fit of giggles, "I can't believe that worked."

Sokka started laughing, hardly believing that he was laughing with a Firenation girl.

"What's so funny?" A cold voice asked.

Ty Lee and Sokka stopped laughing and looked up to see a young man standing in front of them, his golden eyes glinting angrily, glowering at Sokka in a hauntingly familiar way.

"Umm nothing?" Ty Lee answered, forcing an innocent smile.

"Wrong answer." The man growled, thrusting his right arm forward, a jet of flames erupting from his palm.

Sokka veered to the side, avoiding the fire. Instinctively he glanced over to Ty Lee to see if she was safe. She was, but then a shout caught his attention.

"Hey!" Ichiro yelled, striding towards them.

"Get back here!" Jiro ordered them, a little angry that two teenagers had managed to get past him. "You're not allowed to be in here!"

The unnamed man threw a fierce look towards the two guards. They immediately paled.

"S-sorry Captain sir… Captain Arai sir…" Jiro stuttered nervously.

"JUST GET RID OF THEM!" Arai roared.

"I'll hold them off." Ty Lee told Sokka, "You need to find Yukiko!"

He was about to obey, when the earth began to tremble beneath his feet. Torches outside the tents and on the walls of the base fell to the ground, the golden flames consuming what was in their path and growing. He could hear Ichiro screaming apologies to the 'cursed' doll in panic, and even Jiro was too busy worrying about the fires and the tremor to correct him. The only one who seemed somewhat calm was Arai, who had a look on his face as if he were remembering something.

As quickly as it had started, the trembling stopped, but the fires kept growing.

"I have to go get Yukiko!" Sokka told Ty Lee quickly, "You need to get out of here!"

Ty Lee hesitated, unsure whether to leave him or not, but she reluctantly nodded and, after handing him the pink notebook, ran toward the gates that they had came through from.

Sokka raced past guards and soldiers, his head twisting left and right frantically searching for a place that looked as if it would hold prisoners.

As he swiftly sprinted to the left a little to avoid a fallen torch, he felt a stream of warmth fly passed his right ear. He skidded to a halt, turning back to where the attack had come from.

Running towards him was Captain Arai. Sokka turned back and started running again. Was that guy crazy or something!? Why feed the flames!?

Sokka took an abrupt right and ran down into a metal stairwell, where, miraculously, the fire hadn't spread to yet.

His hurried footsteps echoed through the empty stairwell, soon accompanied by another set of footsteps. He jumped down the last steps and turned the corner to the hallway. His face fell as he quickly scanned the cells.

All of them were empty.

He looked around for another exit when a glowing white light appeared in the cell to right. He slowly turned to the cell in time to see a figure of an elderly man standing calmly in the cell watching him. Sokka stared at the man, wondering why he looked so familiar, all the while aware of the approaching footsteps.

The man had a white beard and stood tall, his golden eyes glittering. He was dressed in a red Fire Nation robe with his white hair in a topknot.

"Avatar… Roku…" Sokka asked uncertainly, thinking that if he were wrong then this old man would think that he was some sort of idiot.

The man nodded, a satisfied smile spread across his lips.

Sokka was about to say something when a clamor followed by an angry shout came from around the corner. A few moments later a golden light started growing from around the same area.

"Sokka," Avatar Roku said in a calm voice, "Princess Yukiko isn't here anymore, but she is going to be headed here soon."

Flames began to grow from the metal floor forming a set of letters. Sokka would have smiled if there hadn't been a fire and some crazy Fire Nation guy after him because the notebook Ty Lee had made him buy might actually come in handy.

His few happy spirits left him as he saw what the letters had formed.

V-I-XIX-XX-V-XVIII-XIV I-IX-XVII XX-V-XIII-XVI-XII-V

Never the less he still quickly copied it into the notebook, praying that Ty Lee would know what it was again. But that was if he could even get out. The hall was quickly filling with a thick smoke and the fire was starting to spread.

"You'll soon have two more enemies standing between you and the Princess." Roku told him.

He looked up from his notebook as he finished copying the letters down, but Roku was gone.

He covered his mouth with his hand, looking down the hall desperately for an exit.

"Sokka!" A voice called him.

Ty Lee was running towards him, a cloth covering her mouth and nose.

"C'mon" She said, her voice muffled behind the cloth, pulling him the way she came once she reached him. "Where's Yukiko?" She asked.

Sokka simply shook his head, and she fell silent.

Soon they had left the burning Fire Nation base and were into the fresh air. Sokka collapsed against a tree trunk, his eyes half closed. They remained silent for a few minutes until Ty Lee finally asked,

"What happened?"

Sokka handed her the pink notebook and she flipped open to the first page. She raised an eyebrow.

"Avatar Roku appeared and told me that there would be two more enemies standing between me-us- and Yukiko." Sokka explained.

"More…?" Ty Lee asked confused.

Sokka shrugged.

Ty Lee sighed, and slumped down against a tree, "We need to get some sleep and figure out where she'll be next." She mumbled sleepily.

Sokka answered with a tired nod and fell asleep almost immediately after.

-

-

"It's been two days since Ty Lee left to 'get the Water Tribe boy' as you said, Mai. So where is she?" Azula asked furiously turning to her 'friend'.

Mai shrugged, "How should I know?"

"_Clearly_ Ty Lee is running away with him." Azula growled.

"Well what do you want me to do about it?" Mai asked in her normal bored tone.

"We are going to go after them." Azula said as if it were obvious.

"I still say that we stay here and wait for her. And how do you know she ran away with him?" Mai asked.

"You saw how she kept looking at him! And Mai, are you arguing with me?"

"No, no. I'm not arguing." Mai said quickly. It was best not to get on Azula's bad side. She could be pretty scary when she was angry.

Azula sat down on the saddle of her lizard, "We're going after her." She told Mai forcefully.

Mai sighed in defeat, sitting down on her lizard. Azula took off and just before Mai followed she whispered, "Good luck Ty Lee."

* * *

**A/N: YES! I have finally updated! And man is that a long chapter! Well I won't be updating until I get my three new fics up. If anyone's interested, one is Avatar, one is Cardcaptor Sakura, and the other is Totally Spies. I really want to get them up before Christmas, speaking of which... Happy Holidays:) If you are interested in them, the summaries are in my profile. **

**I know that the Roman Numerals aren't very Avatar-ie but it was all I could think of for the time being. Well I hope you liked the super long chapter, which by the way is at least a 1000 words more than my last chappie. I'm so proud of myself:D Long chapters are hard to write... So, I'm not sure when I'll update soon, most likely after Christmas unless I get a sudden urge to write the next chapter. ttfn, ta ta for now and please r&r!**


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: I am very sorry for not updating in so long! I've had writers block! Stupid writers block… grrrr… But I had always gone through some weird fanfic ideas. First I had this Au Revoir les Enfants kind of idea for Avatar but it was a bit too much themed on WWII and other things that happened at the time. Not what I'd like to put on the Internet in any case. Then there were a few Moulin Rouge-ish ideas for Avatar and for ccs. Thought the ccs one might actually get posted… anyways just a few more notes before we start. **

**I made a little mistake in my last chappie with the code (thank you to pureangel86 for pointing that out) so it should be: V-I-XIX-XX-V-XVIII-XIV I-IX-XVIII XX-V-XIII-XVI-XII-V**

**Also in the chapter I introduce one new character. He is in fact based on my favorite character from a book. See if you can guess in a review and I'll say who it is next chappie. Also the term 'green' means naïve or innocent which is from the same book the character he's based off of is in. With Yukiko they both make a not so common pair but they are best friends (well that's the impression you get) in the book they're in.**

**Thank you for your patience, both with the time it took to update and the long AN. Hope you like the chappie! r&r pweese!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Avatar and never will.**

**Chapter 7**

Yukiko walked through the busy street filled with merchants and colorful carts filled with things of all kinds. She clutched Mizukun tightly to her chest, her eyes watching all around her for Fire Nation soldiers who could be looking for her. Suddenly she felt someone run into her from behind. She spun around to see a boy of about her age hastily pick up some apples. The boy quickly stood up and took off running.

She bent down and picked up a bright red apple, wiping a little bit of dirt off of the skin with her dress.

"Wait! You dropped one!" She shouted after the boy.

"SO YOU HAVE A LITTLE FRIEND, DO YOU BOY!?" A shout came from behind her.

The boy skidded to a halt turning around a look that was a cross between anger and exasperation on his face. Yukiko also turned around to see a big, scary and angry looking merchant running towards.

Yukiko screamed as he grabbed arm. She wiggled away from the man, and ran after the boy.

"This way!" The boy grumbled grabbing her wrist and pulling past several villagers.

He glanced behind him to see that the merchant was still following them.

"Watch out!" Yukiko yelled.

But it was too late. The two children had collided with a young woman in pink. The boy quickly picked up his apples while Yukiko quickly mumbled an apology to the young woman. He stood back up, pulling Yukiko up with him, and just as they were about to start off running again, they were held back by two strong hands.

"Gotcha." The merchant growled triumphantly.

"Hey! What do think you're doing?!" The woman they had ran into snapped. "They're just kids!"

"Yeah we're just kids!" The boy snapped.

"Ty Lee… maybe we should stay out of this…" A man about the same age as her wearing blue mumbled.

"No! They're just kids!" Ty Lee repeated furiously.

"These kids were stealing from me!" The merchant yelled.

"We were not! I'm not a pickpocket or a thief o' any kind!" The young boy said defensively.

"You see? And if you're that convinced that they are, how much do the apples cost? I'm paying for them." Ty Lee said stubbornly, taking several gold coins out of her pocket.

"What?" The man demanded, "We need that money for _meat_! Not apples!"

"Two coins per apple." The merchant said slowly, eying her suspiciously and still not loosening his grip on the boy and Yukiko.

"Here are ten coins." She said ignoring her friend, "Now let them go."

He let go of the two children and accepted the coins. As he turned to leave he glanced back at Yukiko and the boy and said, "You two got lucky this time." And he left.

"What a meanie…" Ty Lee grumbled and she squatted down to Yukiko and the boy's level. "Are you two ok?" She asked concern ringing in her voice.

Yukiko clutched Mizukun tighter to her chest, her hand still clutching the apple and aware of the boy still holding her wrist. She felt her lip begin to tremble and warm tears flowed down her cheeks as she began to cry.

How could that man have been so mean to the boy? It was clear that he hadn't stolen anything.

"It's ok…" Ty Lee murmured giving her a hug. "The mean old man is gone now…"

"Uh yeah. But now we have about three thousand apples and no money!" Ty Lee's friend said.

"Shut up Sokka." Ty Lee glowered, "Plus they aren't _our _apples. They're theirs. Plus there are only five."

"Great. No money and no food." Sokka said grumpily.

"So what are your names?" Ty Lee asked cheerfully, ignoring Sokka's comment.

"Daichi." The young boy replied.

Daichi and Ty Lee looked expectantly at Yukiko. She looked down at Mizukun.

'I shouldn't say my real name?' She asked him wordlessly. 'Ok.'

"My name is Chikako." She said softly, hoping it wasn't too obvious that she was lying.

"Pleased to meet yeh!" Daichi said grinning.

She couldn't help but smile. "Please to meet you too."

"Well then," Ty Lee said after receiving an impatient look from Sokka, "you two stay away from that mean man." She smiled, "Bye."

"Bye…" Yukiko said as the two left.

There was a moment of awkward silence. Yukiko looked up at the boy to get a good look at him for the first time. He had very messy dark brown hair and had green eyes. A black hat covered his dark hair except for his bangs and he wore a brown coat a bit too long for him, the sleeves falling past the tips of his fingers. Under his coat were dirty, dark green Earthkingdom peasant clothes.

"So… you got any family 'round here?" Daichi asked.

She shook her head.

"Well you can stick with me if yeh want…"

She clutched Mizukun, 'Is it ok?' She asked the doll quietly. "Ok." She replied smiling.

"Well consider yourself at home! It's clear we're gonna get along!" He laughed.

-

-

"So Captain Arai was it?" Princess Azula asked.

"Yes." He replied.

"Your name sounds familiar. Was your father a General or Admiral or something…?" Mai asked.

"Yes he was." Arai replied, a hint of bitterness in his voice.

"He passed away recently didn't he? I remember my father mentioning it. He was a valued member of the Fire Navy and a great loss to the Fire Nation." Azula said uninterestedly.

Arai remained quiet.

"I understand that you saw my friend Ty Lee in the past few days." Azula said getting to the point of the meeting.

"The girl in pink? Yes, she was with a Water Tribe boy."

At this Azula gave Mai a significant look.

She shrugged, "Guess you were right." Mai said in her monotone voice.

"That's her. You see we're looking for them, since Ty Lee is now considered a traitor of the Fire Nation." Azula smirked, "And from what I've heard from one of your guards you've lost an important prisoner."

"The Water Tribe princess…" Arai muttered to himself, glowering at Ichiro and Jiro who were standing at the door.

"Exactly." Azula said, "I may fail to relay this information to my father if you would be willing to help me too."

The young captain paused, thinking for a few moments, weighing his options. "Ok."

-

-

"So let me see that code thingy you told me about." Ty Lee said as she waved goodbye to the two children.

"Yeah, here you go." Sokka said handing her the notebook. "I didn't really get the chance to look at it."

She gazed down at the page. "You know… it seems kind of familiar…"

"It does?" Sokka asked surprised, looking at it over her shoulder. "It's just a bunch of mumbojumbo to me."

"Yeah… can't really remember where I've seen it though…" Ty Lee muttered.

"Oh." Sokka's face fell. "Well maybe you'll remember it later?" He asked.

"Yeah maybe."

Sokka opened his mouth to say something, but before he could a familiar voice interrupted.

-

-

"So… now that we're partners or something along those lines, I suppose you should start learning the trade." Daichi said.

"The trade?" Yukiko asked innocently.

"Yeh." He held up an apple.

"Ooooh so you're a farmer!" Yukiko asked delightedly.

Daichi stared at her incredulously for several seconds, Yukiko still gazing at him beaming. That is, until he burst out laughing uncontrollably.

"Chikako you're so green!"

"Green?" Yukiko asked, clueless.

He sighed, shaking his head, "Never mind." He looked around until his eyes caught sight of an elderly, noble looking man. "Watch closely." He instructed her quietly.

-

-

"Sokka? What are you doing here?" A young voice asked from behind the two.

Sokka and Ty Lee swiftly turned around to see a young boy and two girls standing there.

"Sokka what's going on here?" Katara asked, staring at Ty Lee.

There was an awkward silence.

"I guess I need to explain some things…" Sokka muttered.

"EH!? BUT THAT'S STEALING!"

The five looked up in time to hear several angry voices breaking through the crowd, a scream coming from the same young girl who'd yelled, and to see a boy pulling along a squirming girl.

"Oh not them again!" Sokka groaned.

Sure enough Daichi was dragging a very shocked Yukiko after him.

Ty Lee sighed and as the two children began to approach them. "C'mon…" she muttered catching Daichi's arm and leading him and Yukiko through an alley.

"Oh great. Not this again…" Sokka grumbled, rolling his eyes and running after Ty Lee with Aang and the crew and the angry mob not far behind.


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: Ok everybody I finished the rest of the chappie! Enjoy and r&r!**

**Chapter 8**

After about half an hour of running from a mob of angry villagers Aang managed to get them all safely on Appa. There was an awkward silence during the hours that the group traveled away from the village. Katara was continually gazing back and forth between Sokka and Ty Lee and often giving Ty Lee a mistrustful luck. Sokka seemed somewhat annoyed that Ty Lee had once again saved Yukiko and Daichi. Yukiko seemed to still be getting over the shock of Daichi being a thief while her companion was a bit angry at the fact that he'd almost been caught stealing something twice in one day because of the same person. The only two people who didn't seem to be in a bad mood were Aang and Toph.

'Thieves are bad! What should we do Mizukun? I need to get away as quickly as possible!'

The doll sighed silently, "Yuki… people aren't completely one-hundred percent bad." He replied in a voice only Yukiko could hear. "I think you should stay with him for the time being."

'Yes but…'

"You never know. His thieving may come to help you."

'Stealing is bad though!'

"Trust me Yuki." And with that Mizukun fell silent.

Yukiko bit her lip. Mizukun always had very good advice to offer but this time she didn't quite agree with him.

"Do you think we've covered enough distance yet?" Aang asked, finally breaking the silence.

"Uh yeah. I guess." Sokka replied.

The group landed in a clearing in a forest and they began to set up camp in silence until Katara finally broke it.

"So do you two wanna tell us what exactly is going on?"

Sokka and Ty Lee exchanged looks. He cast a wary look at the two children. Daichi was innocently watching them with his hands behind his back while Chikako clutched that creepy doll and watching Daichi uncertainly.

Ty Lee seemed to understand his look and said, "Hey why don't you two go find some wood for the fire?" She asked the two kids kindly.

"Sure." Daichi shrugged, walking into the forest, his hands still hidden from view with Chikako following.

The two children disappeared into the forest. Sokka began to tell the story of what had happened in the past few days, Ty Lee interrupting more often than often than he would have liked.

"I'm sorry Sokka… but I'm really finding it a bit hard to believe. Y'know the stuff with Avatar Roku and all the spirits." Katara said once Sokka had finished. "And I don't understand why she would be helping you…" She added, nodding to Ty Lee.

"It's true!" Sokka snapped.

"I think it sounds pretty normal." Aang smiled.

"I don't know…" Katara trailed off.

"Why don't you show them the notebook?" Ty Lee suggested.

Sokka nodded, rummaging in his sac. He looked up at them after a few minutes. "I think we might have a problem…"

aAa

Yuki watched him warily as they went deeper into the forest. Suddenly he stopped, looking behind him to see if they were out of sight from the older travelers. He grinned at Yuki and brought out a pink notebook he'd hidden in his coat.

"What is that?" She asked, bending down to pick a branch.

"I uh… borrowed it from the guy with the stubby pony tail." Daichi chuckled.

Yuki remained silent for a moment, "Does he know you borrowed it?"

"Of course he does!" The boy reassured, though Yuki was getting the feeling that this wasn't true.

"Bit of a strange color for a boy…" Daichi said, flipping through it.

"Don't say anything." Mizukun advised Yuki quickly.

"Perhaps we should get the wood?" Yuki asked quietly, carefully avoiding looking at the 'borrowed' notebook.

"Yeh…" Daichi said, not looking up. "What do you think this is?" He asked her, tossing her the notebook.

The notebook fell on the ground a few feet away from Yuki. She looked down to Mizukun.

"Look at it, it's ok. You didn't take it." He replied.

Yuki walked over, and sheepishly picked up the notebook, opening it to the first page. On the page were several Vs, Xs, and Is. She shrugged, "I think they're numbers or something…" She mumbled, "What do you think?"

Daichi gave her an odd look, "Numbers? But those are letters!" He shook his head, shrugging. "Whatever…"

"The wood?" Yuki reminded him.

"Yeah, yeah…" Daichi sighed, rolling his eyes.

aAa

"IT MUST HAVE BEEN THOSE LITTLE BRATS!" Sokka shouted, pacing around the campsite angrily.

"Sokka calm down. They can't have gone far. What would they want with a notebook anyways?" Ty Lee asked.

"I DON'T KNOW!? THEY'RE THIEVES! THEY COULD WANT IT FOR ANYTHING!"

Ty Lee shook her head.

"Why don't you just go find them if you want the notebook that much?" Toph suggested.

"That's a good idea." Aang said. "But one of us should stay here in case the come back."

"I can." Ty Lee offered.

"I'll stay also." Katara said automatically.

"Well only one person needs to stay…" Aang started, but was immediately silenced by Katara sending him a death glare.

"WELL THEN LET'S GO FIND THOSE LITTLE BRATS!" Sokka yelled.

aAa

Yuki walked silently along in the forest, the evening sun casting long shadows along the ground. Mizukun was tucked into the pocket of her new green dress and her arms were beginning to ache from carrying so many branches.

Daichi on the other hand, ran around the forest, jumping over roots and hiding behind trees. He was only carrying two, thin branches. One of them was stuck through his belt at his left hip, and the other he was brandishing like a sword, fighting off invisible enemies.

"Do you still have the notebook?" Yuki asked, "You'll have to return you know…"

Daichi stopped his imaginary battle, "Yeah," He took it out from a pocket on the inside of his coat.

Yuki nodded and continued walking, though Daichi remained still.

"Do you hear something?" He asked.

Yuki stopped, listening. Several voices were coming from several meters ahead of the two children and for some reason three of the voices sounded very familiar.

"Hide!" Mizukun urged her.

"I think maybe we should go…" Yuki whispered to Daichi.

"Why? Let's find out what they're talking about!" He suggested, grinning mischievously.

"But the wood!" Yuki protested.

"They can wait!" Daichi insisted, taking her arm, causing her to drop the wood, and pulling her towards the voices.

He dragged her down behind a bush and crawled out closer to the clearing to get a better look.

"Woah they're Fire Nation…" Daichi whispered, returning to the bush.

Yuki frowned and crawled out a few feet. Sure enough, inside the clearing was a small Fire Nation camp. There were two people standing outside a tent, a man and a young woman. Yuki paled as she recognized the man to be Captain Arai. The young woman had black hair pulled up in a topknot and her lips were pulled into a sneer that seemed to be permanent. She didn't recognize her, but she didn't seem like a very kind person.

'How did he find us Mizukun?' She asked, her heart beating fast.

"I don't know. Maybe he'll say something." The doll said.

'We have to get out of here!' Yuki panicked.

"Calm down Yuki. Listen to Daichi. He'll know what to do." Mizukun told her.

'What!? He's… he's… well… he's stupid! It's not nice but he is! Plus I don't like him!' Yuki whined.

"Yuki when have I ever given you bad advice?" And with that the doll fell silent.

Yuki pressed her lips together and quietly crawled back to Daichi. When she returned, Daichi had pulled out the notebook and was drawing rather poor versions of Arai and the evil looking lady in the notebook with a stick.

"They're saying something I'm gonna get a closer look…" Daichi told her, "Wait here."

Yuki nodded, watching him slowly make his way closer to the clearing. Too far away to hear what Arai and the scary-looking woman were saying, she watched as Daichi quickly added something to the notebook.

After a few minutes he set the stick down on the ground and tucked the notebook back inside his coat. He turned around and began crawling back towards her when suddenly a branch broke beneath his hand.

He stopped moving immediately, his eyes wide with fear. Yuki looked back to Arai and the young woman. Both of them had stopped talking and were looking around suspiciously. Arai walked into the forest and immediately saw Daichi on the ground on all fours.

He pulled Daichi up by the collar of his shirt. "And what do you think you're doing?" Arai hissed.

Yuki looked around quickly for a better place to hide, her heart thumping like a frightened rabbit. She prayed that Daichi wouldn't say anything about her.

"Nothing sir, nothing at all!" He stuttered.

"Well then get out of here! And if you say anything, I'll come and get you, you street rat!" He growled, releasing Daichi.

As soon as he let go of him, the boy ran as fast as he could, not even slowing as he passed Yuki. Still thoroughly frightened from the close call, Yuki stayed hidden until after both Arai and the young woman had entered the tent.

'Mizukun that was scary.' She thought, as she shakily picked up the fallen wood.

"It's ok, you're safe." Mizukun said comfortingly.

Yuki nodded, and glanced up from Mizukun. Leaning smugly against a tree was Daichi, spinning something on a chain.

"Are you ok?" Yuki asked, "Why do you look so happy!? That was close!"

"Yeh, it was pretty close…" Daichi admitted, "But look what I got from him!" he grinned, holding the object steady.

Shifting the wood under one of her arms, Yuki took the stolen item from his hand. It was made of copper and on the back there were several scratches, made almost as if to cover up what was imprinted on it.

"What is it?" Daichi asked.

"It's a compass." Yuki replied, flipping it over to see a needle quivering slightly over a small N. Looking up at him she asked, "Why would you steal something if you don't know what it is?"

Snatching the compass back, Daichi, flushed slightly, haughtily replied, "Cause I can! He deserved it anyways…" He grumbled, turning away and making his way back to camp.

"GOTCHA!"

Both Daichi and Yuki screamed, causing Yuki to, once again, drop the wood. To their relief, only Sokka, Aang, and Toph stepped from behind a tree.

"Ugh be quiet!" Sokka growled.

"Well what did you expect if you were going to scare them?" Toph asked, shaking her head.

"Gimme my notebook." Sokka ordered, extending his hand and ignoring Toph's comment.

"Yeah, yeah…" Daichi grumbled, reluctantly returning the notebook.

"C'mon…" Sokka growled, dragging the two children along by the arms.


End file.
